I got my hair cut yesterday evening and, as I always do, I went for a pint afterwards. I got talking to a couple of contractors staying in the area and the conversation turned to football. Neither of them were particularly big fans, but I mentioned Bury a few times and the woman behind the bar asked if I was anything to do with the club. I’m not, but she went on to tell me that he great-grandad played for Bolton in the first ever season of the Football League. Not only that, he was the first ever goalscorer in the entire Football League too.
I also learned from a landlady of a pub who her famous footballing brother was. I was in the Hare and Hounds on Shudehill a few years ago complaining that I didn’t have a former footballer to interview for my page in the matchday programme. “My brother used to play for Bury,” she said. Having heard this line a number of times and having got my hopes up only to have them dashed when the player turned out to have made three ‘B’ team appearances in 1976, I was cautious when I asked his name.
“Stan Bowles,” came the reply.
I also learned from a landlady of a pub who her famous footballing brother was. I was in the Hare and Hounds on Shudehill a few years ago complaining that I didn’t have a former footballer to interview for my page in the matchday programme. “My brother used to play for Bury,” she said. Having heard this line a number of times and having got my hopes up only to have them dashed when the player turned out to have made three ‘B’ team appearances in 1976, I was cautious when I asked his name.
“Stan Bowles,” came the reply.
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